A Spitfire Pilot's Story: Pat Hughes: Battle of Britain Top Gun

by Dennis Newton

  Pat Hughes’ grave, carefully tended over the years by Mr Bert Knowes, Norman and Margery Shirtliff of Hull and also by Mrs Jean Holmes of Barton-on-Humber, apparently on behalf of the Spitfire Society. Both Margery and Jean corresponded for many years with Pat’s closest sister, Constance Torbett, until her death at the age of ninety-five in 2010. Constance remained very grateful to them for their care and for the fresh flowers they laid there. (Dimity Torbett, Stephanie Bladen)

  The memorial plaque on the wall of the house identifying where Pat Hughes fell into the backyard garden. The resident in 1940 was William Norman. (Malcolm Booth)

  The telegram sent to the Lucas family informing them of Pat Hughes’ death. (Laurence Lucas)

  Pat Hughes’ medals. Bill Hughes donated his brother’s DFC and campaign medals to the Australian War Memorial for display. A photograph of them was placed on the dust jacket cover of A Few of ‘The Few’ – Australians and the Battle of Britain, the book published by the Australian War Memorial to mark the fiftieth Anniversary of the battle. (Author’s collection)

  Pat Hughes’ nephew, David Hughes, in a similar pose to his Uncle Bill, displaying miniatures of Pat’s medals. (Author’s collection)

  The cover of the Pat Hughes’ Memorial Stone Service of 23 August 2008. Dedication of the Memorial Stone and the Memorial Stone Service were carried out by Shoreham Aircraft Museum in Sevenoaks on the initiative of the curator, renowned aviation artist Geoff Nutkins. (via Stephanie Bladen)

  The Pat Hughes Memorial at Cooma NSW. This memorial was dedicated to him in Monahan Hayes Place in 2006. It is in the form of a glass topped font which contains the model of a Spitfire and a picture of Pat’s last photograph. (via Stephanie Bladen, Laurence Lucas)

  Pat Hughes’ parents: Caroline Christina (née Vennel) and Paterson Clarence ‘Percy’ Hughes. (Dimity Torbett)

  Family snap: Pat Hughes (right) with his brother William. William, of course, was usually called ‘Bill’ by his friends and relatives, but in his letters Pat addressed him as ‘Will’. (Dimity Torbett)

  Family snap: Pat Hughes with his sisters Marjorie (left) and Constance. (Dimity Torbett)

  ‘A’ Course January 1936 entry at RAAF Point Cook. Left to right, back row: Cadets Paine, Rogers, Robertson, Dillon, Cooper, Jackson, Sladin, Fowler, Kinane, Good and Cameron. Centre row: Cadets Cosgrove, Yates, Hullock, Hughes, Armstrong, Wight, Grey-Smith, Gilbert, Power, Kelaher, Sheen and Brough. Front row: Cadets Johnson, Kaufman, McDonough, Boehm, Allsop, Hartnell, Olive, Marshall, Mace, Campbell and Eaton. Most subsequently had distinguished careers of in the RAAF and RAF. Of them, Pat Hughes, Gordon Olive, Desmond Sheen and Dick Power flew in the Battle of Britain. (RAAF Museum)

  Pat Hughes at Point Cook. (Dimity Torbett)

  Pat’s mother, Pete Pettigrew, Marge and Bill at Pat’s departure for England. (Bill Hughes)

  Pat aboard the RMS Narkunda as the ship departs from Wharf No. 21 Pyrmont, Sydney, 9 January 1937. (Bill Hughes)

  At sea: Desmond Sheen (right) and Bob Cosgrove in the swimming pool on the RMS Narkunda, photographed by Pat Hughes. (via Dimity Torbett)

  Pat Hughes in a quiet mood at Uxbridge. (Bill Hughes)

  Hawker Hart, photographed by Pat Hughes. (via Dimity Torbett)

  Hawker Hurricane prototype K5083, photographed at Martlesham Heath by Pat Hughes. One of the Hawker test pilots who flew this machine regularly was South Australian, Richard Carew Reyell, who was killed in action on the same day as Pat. (via Dimity Torbett)

  Vickers Wellington prototype K4049, photographed at Martlesahm Heath by Pat Hughes. The Wellington was one of the classic RAF bombers of the Second World War. It carried the lion’s share of Bomber Command’s night offensive until the introduction later of the four-engined Short Stirling, Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster heavy bombers and was still in front-line service at the end of the war. (via Dimity Torbett)

  Pat Hughes at Martlesham Heath carrying out some repairs to his normal mode of transportation. (Stephanie Bladen)

  Pat Hughes (right) with 64 Squadron pilots. (Bill Hughes)

  Pat Hughes in front of tent. Two of Pat’s nephews later served in the RAAF: the late Air Vice Marshal. H. A. (Bill) Hughes of Canberra; and the late Wing Commander John Hughes of Perth, Western Australia. (Stephanie Bladen)

  Pat Hughes in his RAAF uniform in the UK. George Bailey and Keith Lawrence recalled that Pat made a point of normally wearing his original dark blue RAAF uniform with gold stripes. Australian pilots serving in the RAF under the pre-war Short Service Commission Scheme were permitted to wear their RAAF uniforms, and most chose to do so. (Laurence Lucas)

  Bristol Blenheim If fighter. Note the belly pack of four .303 inch Browning machine guns. The pack was bolted on under the Blenheim’s bomb bay which stored four belts of ammunition, each containing 500 rounds. (IWM via John Hamilton)

  Bristol Blenheim Mk.I bomber in flight with no gun pack. Pre-war, the twin-engine Blenheim bomber was regarded as a modern aircraft with an outstanding performance. It was capable of easily overtaking the Gloster Gladiator, the RAF’s main pre-war single-seat biplane fighter. (RAAF Museum)

  Pilot Officer – later promoted to Flying Officer – Butch. ‘My dog “Butch” has grown incredibly’, Pat wrote home, ‘and now likes to fight as well as fly, although he doesn’t yet display much intelligence.’ (Stephanie Bladen, Dimity Torbett)

  Pat with Butch. (Bill Hughes)

  Butch on top of the fuselage of a Blenheim next to the gun turret. When nobody was looking, Pat took the pup flying in his Blenheim (it was one of those well-kept secrets that everybody knew about) and in his letters home to his Mother, he would tell her the many flying hours Butch had accumulated. (Bill Hughes)

  Vincent ‘Bush’ Parker after his release from Colditz. After the war he stayed in the RAF but on 29 January 1946 he was killed in a tragic accident when the Hawker Tempest he was flying crashed into a hillside, cause unknown. He was deservedly Mentioned in Despatches the following 13 June. (Colin Burgess)

  Ron Lees, the Australian CO of 72 Squadron. He remained in the RAF after the war and, on 3 February 1966, after thirty-five years of distinguished service, he retired as Air Marshal Sir Ronald Beresford Lees KCB, CBE, DFC & Bar. (RAAF Museum)

  Desmond Sheen seated in the cockpit of his Spitfire. Out of the twenty-four RAAF cadets who chose to journey to England to join the RAF early in 1937, just three flew Spitfires during the Battle of Britain: Pat Hughes, Gordon Olive, and Desmond Sheen. This particular aircraft was Spitfire Mk. I, K9959/RN-J of 72 Squadron, Sheen’s regular machine until he joined the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PDU) in April 1940. His personal emblem was a brown boomerang in a white circle. (Desmond Sheen)

  Junkers Ju 88s. In 1940 the Ju 88 was the latest and fastest German bomber. Originally designed as a dive-bomber, it proved to be one of the most versatile types in the Luftwaffe arsenal and was always regarded by those Allied pilots who encountered it as a formidable opponent. (MAP)

  Ju 88 under fire. (RAAF Museum)

  Tally ho! At 6.15 p.m. on 8 July 1940, the three Spitfires of Blue Section, 234 Squadron, led by Pat Hughes intercepted a Junkers Ju 88 twenty-five miles south-east of Land’s End. Pat’s two wingmen were New Zealander, P/O Keith Lawrence as Blue 2, and Sgt George Bailey as Blue 3. (AWM)

  Gladiator N5585 of 247 Squadron depicted with the ‘Anzac Answer’ emblem. The sketch is based on the diagrams in Francis Mason’s book, Battle Over Britain. (Dennis Newton)

  Pat Hughes and 234 Squadron at St Eval. The extra details on the photograph were added by Keith Lawrence who, with Pat, took part in 234 Squadron’s first credited victory on 8 July 1940. He was also flying with Pat when the Australian was killed in action during the first huge daylight attack on London on 7 September 1940. Pat is seated on the left. (Keith Lawrence)

  Pat Hughes at dispersal, as usual wearing his dark blue Royal Australian Air Force uniform. (Dimity Torbett)

  Messerschmitt Me 109E. The Me 109 and Me 110 aircraft referred to
by the Allies were actually the Bf 109 and Bf 110 respectively. (MAP)

  A Messerschmitt Me 109E damaged to the extent that its port undercarriage has dropped down. Me 109s made up the majority of Pat Hughes’ victories. (AWM)

  Messerschmitt Me 110. Although fast and well armed with two 20 mm cannons and four 7.9 mm machine guns in the nose firing forward and one flexible 7.9 mm machine gun in the rear cockpit, it failed as an escort fighter when confronted by Fighter Command’s fast and far more nimble Hurricanes and Spitfires. Later in the war the type was developed into a highly dangerous night fighter. Pat Hughes claimed three Me 110s in his most successful combat on 4 September 1940. (AWM)

  Pat Hughes with a couple of pilots from 234 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight. (Stephanie Bladen)

  Pat in happier times at picnic at St Eval in August 1940, before he found himself in the position of temporary commander of 234 Squadron. Pat led 234 into some of the heaviest fighting of the Battle of Britain. (Bill Hughes, Dimity Torbett)

  Pat Hughes photographed the day before he was killed in action. Despite the smile, it seems evident that he was feeling the effects of stress and fatigue by this stage. In the intense, bitter fighting three days before 7 September 1940 he was credited with destroying six, possibly seven, enemy aircraft. (Bill Hughes, Keith Lawrence)

  F/Lt Dick Reynell, the other Australian pilot killed in action on 7 September 1940, was shot down by Me 109s. His parachute also failed to open. (Marjorie Horn)

  Dornier Do 17s over London on 7 September 1940. The curved road on the left is Silvertown Way where it becomes North Woolwich Road. West Ham Speedway is directly underneath the bombers. The first bombs fell on the capital’s dockyard areas of Woolwich and the Isle of Dogs at around 5.20 p.m. (AWM)

  The London docks area ablaze late on the afternoon of 7 September 1940. That night, the code word ‘Cromwell’, Alert No. 1, was issued. This was the alarm signalling that the anticipated German invasion of England had begun. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. (AWM)

  A Spitfire breaks away from an attack on a Dornier Do 17. The mission that day for the crew of Dornier Do 17Z (2596), F1-BA, of Stab KG 76 was to photograph the bombing of London docks. Its crew was Lt Gottfried Schneider, Ofw Karl Schneider, Fw Erich Rosche and Uffz Walter Rupprecht. On the return flight, the Dornier was attacked repeatedly by RAF fighters. Among these may have been the Spitfire of P/O Ellis Aries of 602 Squadron who claimed a Do 17 destroyed, and a Hurricane flown by F/O George Peters of 79 Squadron. (ww2images.com)

  The site of Pat Hughes’ grave in the churchyard of St James’ Church of England in the parish of Sutton-on-Hull. (Stephanie Bladen)

  Dornier Do 17Z (2596) crashed down into a stream at Sunbridge near Sevenoaks at around 6.00 p.m. on 7 September 1940. The tail fin was found some distance from the main wreckage. (After the Battle Collection via Winston Ramsey)

  The flying helmet of Fw Erich Rosche, wireless operator of Dornier Do 17Z (2596). Erich Rosche managed to bail out and was captured but the rest of the crew perished. At his capture, Rosche was relieved of his flying helmet and oxygen mask, items which became the highly prized souvenirs of a Sevenoaks resident, or residents. (After the Battle Collection via Winston Ramsey)

  Tool kit found at the crash site of Dornier Do 17Z (2596). (After the Battle Collection via Winston Ramsey)

  Dornier engine cowling clasp with a .303-inch shell casing embedded in it. Over the years two excavations were carried out at the site of the Dornier crash and they made numerous remarkable finds. (After the Battle Collection via Winston Ramsey)

  Portrait of Kay Hughes c. 1942. By then Kay was a WAAF. (Stephanie Bladen)

  Kay when she was presented with Pat’s posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross at a ceremony in June 1942. (AWM)

  Pat Hughes’ name in the Australian list on the Battle of Britain Memorial, London. (Author’s collection)